Holidays.. and appreciating education

Holiday? What holiday? School holiday? You mean spending the holiday in school?

Well, that's more like it. Come next week, school will reopen again, and after a real one week break, it's back to reality. It's back to going back to planning for my lessons and getting ready for Term 3 and 4.

I hope my students have been doing their work at home, revising. i wished I could let them know how fortunate they are to be able to experience education. I watched an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show just two weeks back, and it talked about education in the public schools in the States. It showed that in some schools, the system keeps sabotaging the students' want to learn. For example, they enrol 40 students for a class, and provide only 30 desks and chairs. Students end up standing, on some days during lessons, and eventually feel they are not given the opportunity and quality of education they deserve.

Some two months back, when I was talking to this Aussie guy I met at the airport, he gave his own theory of education too. He said, he realised in countries where education is provided for free, or highly subsidised, the students take this privilege for granted. They drag their feet to class, and skip lessons. They don't do homework and they give their teachers a hard time. He said he knew cos he was one such student. He didn't see a need for education when it was given to him. He dropped out of school eventually and went out to work. It was only then did he see a need for education. All of a sudden, learning became relevant, useful, and a need instead of a want. He went back to school, took up the subjects that interested him, and excelled. In conclusion, he gathered that education shouldn't be given free. "Let them yearn for it."

At the SPH Media Club camp, the IN crowd shared with us their trip to China, where they visited a school, and took part in some of their activities besides visiting the China Daily. What impressed the people at SPH and the IN crowd so much, was how enthusiastic the students were in wanting to learn. The IN crowd observed the students in an English lessons, and even though they were weak at the language, they raised their hands and tried and participated in the lesson so actively. It was apparent that they had taken ownership of their learning. They yearned to learn cos they knew it would be useful for them for the future.

I look at the education system in Singapore, and I look at the students I teach. How many of them actually yearn to be educated? How many of them actually realise what they learn now is useful when they leave school? How many of them actually take it all for granted - "I don't have to pay for anything anyway."

I challenge my students to ask themselves - now that I've been given an opportunity in education - what is it that I can gain whilst in school? How do I make sure I make full use of my time here? If I do badly in a subject, do I choose to give up (take the lazy way out)? or Do I choose to think of other ways to make myself improve?

With Term 3 coming up, and before school starts maybe I'd like you to take some time to think about it. What can I do in term 3 to make full use of my education?